'After China, Japan too reached out to Pakistan for human trials of vaccine'

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza said on Saturday that like China, Japan too reached out to Pakistan to discuss the possibility of human testing of a batch of vaccine their scientists were working on to control the spread of coronavirus in the world.

Talking to the media, Mirza rejected reports that Pakistan was working on any coronavirus vaccine. He said that China had prepared a vaccine and it was currently testing it on humans. He said that China had asked Pakistan to do the same and share results. He said the government of Pakistan has asked for more information on the matter before taking a decision on this issue.

Mirza said people needed to take extreme caution and lamented the irresponsible behaviour shown by people on the first day of Ramazan. He said that people should try not to crowd the places. If a place has been crowded then one should avoid it and go elsewhere to buy daily use items. He said that Pakistan had entered a critical phase in terms of coronavirus outbreak and it needed to be dealt with extreme caution.

Dr Mirza lauded the Yaran-e-Watan initiative announced earlier, enabling overseas Pakistani health professionals to support the country’s efforts to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.